Choose Your Battles Wisely

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I was a sophomore in High School when I had the dubitable pleasure of taking Mr. Regan's government class. I was a cheerleader so I regularly had my uniform on, and he used to always rank on me - apparently he did not like cheerleaders because he thought they were less than. #MeTOO Mr Regan! This was not a big deal compared to the major faux pas that he made in class one day when he called the townhouse complex I lived in "tenement housing". I lost it in class. I went off on him with a barrage of remarks to the point that they extracted me and took me to the principals office. They called home and Mom had to come get me. I was in big trouble. They wanted to suspend me. Mom asked me what I did - and I told her what he said, and that I was just defending my home and calling him out for his attitude and inappropriate behavior. Of course it was more like - "Mr. Regan's a jerk mom, he said this and it's just not fair. It was wrong and he was mean and I couldn't control myself." I'm pretty sure I dropped some f-boms too, but that is the PG version from my head in the 80s. She agreed that I was only doing what any kid would do who was having their background attacked in front of their peers. At that time she then taught me about "choosing your battles". She said sometimes you have to suck it up, and just let the person be an ass without defending things. They are not worth your energy. Yes they are wrong and they said things that are inappropriate. I have used this situation and tactic in so many situations to date, it was an amazing piece of advice that I owe my mom a huge thank you for. Mr Regan and I never got along after that, but I learned to pipe down.  

 <<Post for April 18th, 2018>>

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